Kanchanaburi, Thailand

We had to drag ourselves out of bed this morning and did not want to get up! We hadn't had good sleeps the last few nights, trying to get things sorted for Cambodia and stuff- hope it pays off now!! I was ready to stay in bed a while longer but Nath got us up and we quickly got ready and went for the bus to Erawan National Park. The bus was a standard thai local bus and it took an hour and a half to get there. It was only £1 each for the bus and £4 each into the park.
We got there at 11 so had a good while until the last bus back at 4pm. There were 7 waterfalls to go see at the national park, all on different tiers up through the hills in the trees. We went to see them all, going all the way to the top to 7, where Nath got in for a dip. I was about to but it was really busy and the rocks were too slippy. Plus there were little fish in the water that nibbled your feet- which really wasn't nice at all!! We got some lovely photos of all the waterfalls- they were so clear and beautiful! It was hard to believe that the waterfalls were natural and just set like that in the forest on so many tiers. It was like there were more than 7 though as each tier had different sections and levels too! Once we had been to the top and took in all the beautiful waterfalls and little pools, we walked back down a few, stopping at them all again before staying at one to eat some food.
We kept going back down until we found one that looked okay to get in and we had a dip of our feet in a shallow bit where there weren't any fish and I got in a bit but kept getting nibbled even though I had put socks on! We walked back down some more to the 4th tier, which had quite a few people swimming in. There were two large boulder like rocks that formed the waterfall but as they were so smooth and the waterfall wasn't too strong, they could be used a slides!
This pool had loads of very big and I mean big fish in as well as the little fish. They didn't seem to be bothering people though and would just swim around them but it still looked scary! After much consideration and encouragement from Nath, I finally picked up the courage to jump in the water. It was lovely and refreshing and didn't seem as cold as the others we had dipped in. I had a little swim and then claimed the waterfall to slide down the smallest rock. It looked bigger an scarier once I got to the top, but it was so much fun! After doing the smaller one and really enjoying it, I egged myself on to do the big one. This one was quite a bit higher from the top, but not that bad. I did let out a scream on the way down though!
After seeing how much fun I was having, Nath felt he just had to get in, even if he didn't want to! He eventually jumped in over the fish and quickly swam to the other side to climb the rocks. We both went to the highest one and slid down the slide together. Nath swiftly left the water after having one go at the waterfall! Couldn't believe he actually got in with all them fish! Took me long enough to pick up the courage and he is worse than me!
We went down to the 2nd tier next where there was a strong flowing lovely waterfall, with emerald green waters- like what you see in films! I had a dip in this water, which was lovely and had a little shower under the waterfall. It was nearly the end of the day to go catch the last bus so I sadly got out of the water, but not before a fish had a good nibble on my ankle!!
When we got on the bus it was nearly full and I managed to get the last seat, but Nath, as well as other people, had to stand up for the whole hour and a half journey- a little bit of pay back for me sitting on a plastic stool for a whole journey! The journey back went pretty quick and when we were back at the bus station, we quickly nipped to our accommodation to freshen up and change, as I was still so drenched, then headed out to the market near the train station, which was quite a walk away.
We had a few alcopops on the way down and were ready for some food once we got there! We had a little wander around the stalls and noticed that quite a few people would stare at us, one even nudged someone to look at us. We didn't have a clue what was going on, but we felt a little uncomfortable. We didn't know whether it was the alcohol, even though it was sold at the market, so we bought a slush and used the plastic cup to pour our drinks in. It wasn't the alcohol, as after this people still stared at us. Nobody was nasty or anything, but it did make us feel uncomfortable.
We bought some starters anyway and went at the edge of the market to eat it as there weren't any seats. We then went and got two little boxes of food from a stall, some chicken and chips and then some rice and pork. They were only 10 and 20 baht each, which is ridiculously cheap!! We found some seats outside a shop so we bought a drink from there and and asked if we could sit down to eat. We spent the next couple of hours having our food and chatting away, before we realised that the market was getting pretty empty.
We took the long walk back to our accommodation, having a couple more drinks on the way and when we got back. We managed to find somewhere to book near the bus station in Bangkok for £18, which is worth it rather than us staying up in the bus station all night until our bus at 9am the next morning. Things seemed to be coming together with getting to Cambodia now- we had the bus booked and now a night in Bangkok before the bus. We just needed our evisa now, but I don't think it would be the end of the world if it didn't come as we could get one at the border. We would just lose out on money, which is our own fault as we should have applied sooner!